Mordret was the type of person who believed himself to be quite unflappable. No matter what monster came his way, no matter how great the threat, he would respond with the same casual nonchalance.
After all, he was quite untouchable. Even as an Awakened no Saint could truly kill him. His death was never in question so long as the nature of his Flaw remained hidden. So it was quite upsetting that a creeping feeling of uncertainty always appeared with the presence of Gehrman's new friend.
The fellow's name was Sunless. Though Gehrman called him "Sunny", Mordret felt that calling a Shadow Creature that would be disingenuous, especially since Sunless was such an appropriate name.
In any case, Sunless unnerved him for a few reasons.
The first and most obvious was the simple fact that he had just appeared out of the blue. It was not like he was a hidden weapon for some Clan, nor had he been a slumbering Noble Creature.
This guy was, in fact, a human of the War Realm. It was just that his nature had been changed by the Nightmare Spell much like Changing Star and Mordret himself had been. They had all been born human, but not a single person of the ancient past would recognize them as such.
In any case, it would have made more sense if he was a creature from the Shadow Realm who was (for some reason) friendly.
Instead, there had apparently been a fourth Divine Aspect User for years, and he was by no means weaker than the rest of them.
How could such a thing slip his notice?
Dimly, he wondered if the Dreamspawn had a hand in it. Yet there was no way to prove that.
Such an outcome also seemed unlikely given what was going on currently.
Mordret was stretched between dimensions, with most of him in South America and the rest stationed in Ravenheart.
He would be needed in case the Skinwalker made an appearance, after all.
Still, the majority of his terrifying power was placed in the waking world. A veritable army of growing Shards met the Corrupted and Great creatures of the two Category 5 Gates.
Mordret had expected that this would be a phenomenal opportunity to expand himself into tens of thousands of powerful vessels.
Indeed, he did gain many vessels, but he also lost an equal amount. The Corrupted Abominations weren't an issue, but numbers mattered a lot less against Great Nightmare Creatures.
For those bastards, he would need to send a horde, his Reflections…or himself.
At the moment, Mordret fought with brutal efficiency. The [Uncanny Threaded Cane] was just as deadly as ever. It was Mordret's main weapon within the Tomb of Ariel, and as it turned out, that led to a rather fortuitous development.
Indeed, the [Gentelmen's Pride] Enchantment increased the weapon's ability to act of its own accord the longer it had bonded with Mordret. Since the time within that horrible 3rd Nightmare had been warped, the end result was an almost autonomous weapon.
Granted, the Trick Weapon could not fight on its own, but it could float to Mordret's hand and switch from the whip to cane form on its own.
Back when he was a Master, he fought Saints by mirror-jumping between the blades of the Threaded Cane. That was only possible because he had Reflected himself. At that time, if he jumped into and out of one of the mirror blades to avoid an attack, the weapon would just fall to the ground, as Mordret could continue to wield it by grabbing its blade.
He had circumnavigated this issue by always making sure that the two versions of "him" with the Threaded Cane would be able to take one or both of the handles in order to keep things afloat.
Now that the [Uncanny Threaded Cane] was at its current level though, he didn't need to worry about such things.
Around an enormous bug-like Great Demon, lacerations were continuously added again and again as the enormous, spear-like limbs of the thing slammed downward, sending terrible shockwaves out each time.
Yet it touched nothing.
From an outsider's perspective, it looked as if Mordret was in several places at once as his form flashed from one mirror blade to another. Each place he appeared, he attacked with his own blade. This one wasn't nearly as special, but its sharpness combined with the natural strength of a Transcendent Titan let him easily cleave through the weaker spots of this monstrosity.
The [Uncanny Threaded Cane] kept itself up right and continued to whip and slash. With every moment that passed its momentum and deadliness grew greater.
At the moment, Mordret was testing something.
He had long believed the mirror-jump (or more accurately, the reflection jump) to be mere utility. It was a transportation skill that could be great in combat, but it didn't increase his attack power.
Back during the Chain of Nightmares though, Gehrman had pitched an idea that had stuck in Mordret's mind ever since.
That idea was to conserve the momentum he gained while jumping to increase his speed. With his Dormant Ability, he could travel at the speed of light between reflections, but he was also wholly incorporeal during that. What would happen then if he somehow did retain some actual mass?
Well, the answer would clearly be utter devastation.
Mordret had to admit he lacked the attack potency of the other Divine Aspect users, even Sunless had proven to be able to deal large scale destruction.
However if he could pull off a jump, angle himself in the right way, and do so while keeping his mass, he would effectively be able to attack at the speed of light.
…Of course, doing so would probably kill him.
The higher one went in the Ranks the less the laws of the world applied to them, but no Saint could handle that kind of movement. Even Caster, whose whole gimmick revolved around acceleration, only managed to be massively hypersonic at his best.
Still, he didn't need a speed of light attack to deal with a mere Great Demon.
At that moment, one of the large limbs of the bug gave way and it toppled to the ground. Before it could regain itself, Mordret appeared next to its chittering head and turned his weapon into cane form.
Blood sprayed as the [Uncanny Threaded Cane] retracted, pulling itself violently across the creature's armor-like carapace.
Then, with the cane in its short-range form, he stabbed it directly in the eye. A horrific wail was let out from the creature, and Mordret felt a shiver go up his spine as the ecstasy of a kill washed over him.
It had been a long, long time since he killed a human, mostly because of Gehrman's influence. He managed to keep the desire at bay thanks to his logical brain correctly figuring out that staying on that guy's good side was an absolute must.
So in order to sate his more sadistic tendencies, he had to take them out on these things.
As the abomination died, Mordret quickly jumped into the abominable Soul of the thing. It was already weakened drastically and could not make an effort to defend itself.
As it drifted into the afterlife, Mordret "defeated" it in a Soul Duel.
[You have slain a Great Demon, Baron of Desolation.]
What came next was something he had gotten very used to. Thanks to his Transformation ability, he could split off shards of his Soul to inhabit the corpses of what he defeated in a Soul Duel. It was the same principle that allowed him to wear the corpses of the enemies he killed, only now he was not limited to inhabiting just 7 bodies.
So it was that Mordret gained another "limb". With the majority of his Soul departing to return to his body, the "him" in the Baron of Desolation remained wholly cognizant.
Meanwhile, the main Mordret sighed and opened a pocket into his Mirror Realm. Since Transcending, his own pocket dimension could store much more, and did not require a reflective surface for its entrance and exit to be placed upon.
From a shimmering, fragmented, rift, another abominable creature came out. This was once a Great Devil, and it was now one of Mordret's most important Shards.
So important, in fact, that he left the husk of it safely tucked away within his Mirror Realm so as not to risk losing it.
The "Cleric of Transgression" was a fierce enemy, as a Devil, it wielded a special power that allowed it to cause massive growth. This could be used to excite the healing process of its allies or cause cancerous growths in the enemy.
Naturally, Mordreet was using it as a healer. He didn't have to worry about messing up the bodies of his future Shards since he had the Cleric to repair them to 100%.
"Transgression and Desolation, it seems we have a war between the two," Mordret said.
Indeed, each of the Great creatures that appeared to have spawned under the Cursed creatures shared a similar pattern in that they carried the title of either Transgression (coming from the Tower of Babel) or Desolation (coming from North America).
Then there was Mordret and Sunless, a third party who slaughtered the both of them for their own gain.
Mordret stretched as he transported his new Great Demon body into the Mirror Realm, where it could then be brought out elsewhere on the proper front.
He had considered not doing that, as a little while ago the flap of hundreds of wings were rapidly approaching.
However, they had long agreed that such hordes belonged to Sunless.
Off in the distance enormous flying bug abominations gathered to cover the sky. The swarm was made of Corrupted Beasts and Monsters, but there were so many that it would be difficult to deal with for even the strongest of Saints.
There were exceptions to that, Gehrman, Changing Star, and Mordret himself had means to take out such a group.
As it turned out, so did Sunless.
Rising to meet the horde, a salvo of shadow spears launched violently from far away. They blotted out the sky and caused several explosions as their speed easily crashed through the sound barrier.
There were hundreds of these Corrupted creatures.
There were thousands of spears, each of the Transcendent in quality.
The horde never stood a chance.
It was a bit harrowing to see so many Nightmare Creatures die so quickly. Even more so because Mordret could sense that each kill strengthened the shadow-user. Instead of Soul Shards, Sunless grew in an unorthodox way (much like Gehrman). He could only saturate and form new cores with the death of his enemies.
The mechanic was only briefly mentioned by Gehrman, as this way he could convince Mordret to focus more on the Great creatures and leave the numerous Corrupted to Sunless. In his words, it was "more efficient".
Still, how difficult was it for him to saturate a Soul Core?
The guy had to have killed well over 3 thousand Corrupted Creatures, and he was still a Terror.
Mordret almost felt bad for the guy.
After enjoying the show, Mordret found a puddle on the ground and entered the reflection. From there, he jumped to a specific reflection, and appeared near the shadow.
The armor Sunless wore was unlike anything Mordret had ever seen. As if the shadow itself had been frozen solid in a perfect sculpture of sublime armor. It was not medieval in style, like what those of Valor wore.
Instead, it was entirely simple and lightweight gear that offered greater heft in front of all the notable weak spots. There was also a helmet that came with the armor, but Mordret had only seen him summon it once.
It had some strange adornments that made his head look like a strange but harrowing abstract art piece.
Mordret didn't blame him for not summoning the whole ensemble, such a thing was cumbersome after all.
Still, even without it, the Transcendent Armor held so many powerful enchantments that even Mordret – who was by no means a smith – could tell it was profoundly special.
As it so happened, the ice-like quality also gave a slight reflective surface, meaning Mordret could easily teleport to him.
"A fine attack, Sunless. Each of those spears was of the Transcendent quality though, are you sure you didn't burn too much Essence?"
The young man gave him a blank look that had a hint of distaste.
"Essence isn't really a problem," he said. Mordret couldn't help but follow his eyes to the blade in his hand.
It was a pitch black odachi (seriously, was everything this guy owned black?). However, that was not what was most interesting about the sword.
It took a while for Mordret to figure it out, even though Sunless did not appear to care if it was secret, but the sword was not a Memory.
Instead, it was actually an Echo…or something like an Echo. Honestly, it was hard to say what those things were.
Sunless had access to 5 strange Echoes that appeared far too powerful for their Rank. In truth, they seemed more like his Reflections than anything else, as they seemed to have some independence.
It wasn't far-fetched to say that the creation of these things was a part of his Aspect, much like how Reflections were for Mordret.
In any case, this "Shadow" was of an enormous onyx serpent. Yet instead of letting that monstrosity run free, he used it as a sword.
Given what he said about Essence, Mordret could only assume there were some hidden benefits to wielding the Shadow as a blade.
Even with him keeping the snake for himself, the other Shadows were no less fearsome. There was an odd Ascended Terror, a demonic horse that appeared to have an affinity towards nightmares. A fiendish Transcendent Devil that, somehow, seemed on the verge of evolving into a Supreme Devil. Then there was…the house.
That one confused Mordret a lot. There was no doubt it was an Ascended Devil, one that had a spatial aspect to its powers as well as shapeshifting. For whatever reason, it acted as a portable home for Sunless.
After some badgering, Mordret was also allowed a small and cramped "guest room" within the thing.
For some reason, "sleeping" in the maw of an Ascended Devil was a lot more cozy than he had expected.
Finally there was the Stone Saint.
Well, it wasn't stone anymore.
Mordret was familiar with the creations of Nether, the Demon of Choice. The Stone Saints were the very first type of "life" not created by the gods. They were built to be the perfect soldiers, with unyielding will and unmatched prowess on the battlefield.
Seeing this Onyx Saint slaughtering Great Creatures with ease, he couldn't help but wonder how exactly Nether had instilled such prowess in the creatures. It was almost as if the Shadow had a slightly lesser version of the War Gods Lineage.
Despite only being a Transcendent Devil, Mordret considered that thing the strongest of Sunless's subordinates.
"Well then, with that done, I believe we have earned a bit of respite, don't you?" Mordret said.
Sunless gave him a dry look. It was such a personal detestation that Mordret wondered if he had somehow offended the guy somewhere along the line.
Nonetheless, he did not seem to completely hate him. In a shower of black sparks (seriously, so much black with this guy) the cozy cottage appeared.
Mordret smiled warmly.
"If only all wars were like this."
"This isn't war," Sunless said, his face darkening. "War is…very different."
Mordret titled his head, considering his companion.
"Quite the gall to say that to the inheritor of War God's Lineage…but I'll hear you out. How is this not war? Is mass death due to conflict between two parties not the very definition of the word?"
Sunless shook his head.
"I guess, this is a war, if you want to be technical. However, I don't consider this anything close to the real thing. After all, there is one key difference."
"And what is that?"
"...There are no innocents dying by the thousands, tens of thousands, hell, even millions. That is what we have to look forward to when this whole shit show starts."
Mordret's face lost all emotion, like it always did when he was serious. In conversations like this, he didn't feel the need to keep up the facade.
"Indeed, neither Song nor my dear father care much for keeping innocents out of their petty spat. That being said, what does that have to do with you? Do you fancy yourself some kind of hero?"
"The war matters to me because it conflicts with my goal, and no, I'm not narcissistic or stupid enough to consider myself a hero."
"Is that so? Then what, pray tell, is your goal?"
Mordret wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't what came out of Sunless's mouth next.
"I want to run a cafe or a Memory Botique…or both. Yeah, I bet I could make them one in the same. Cafe by day and Memory Botique…well, whenever someone asks for a Memory."
For the first time in a long time Mordret was too stunned to speak.
"Huh?" was all he could manage.
Sunless ignored him, entering the cottage and into a rather sparse open floor with a few chairs and a half-constructed fireplace.
Mordret followed in after him.
"Forgive me Sunless, but that seems an awful quaint goal for someone looking to overthrow the hierarchy of all of humanity."
The shadow scowled at him.
"So? What's wrong with small dreams? You think having loftier ambitions makes you somehow more worthy of fighting?"
Mordret quickly shook his head.
"Ah, no of course not. It just took me by surprise is all."
As he said that, Mordret picked up a rather important detail. However, his train of thought was interrupted by Sunless once more.
"At least my dream makes sense. Your whole goal is killing your family. Now, even if I ignore the screwed up nature of such a goal, it is flawed from the ground up. What happens after you accomplish your mission? What happens after your purpose in life is finished?"
Mordret blinked, returning a blank stare.
"Afterwards, I will consolidate my strength and prepare for the Dreamspawn's inevitable return. Then, I'll kill him as well."
"And after that?" Sunless asked, this time more insistently.
Mordret frowned.
He was silent for a while, not because he was trying to come up with the best response, but simply because he didn't have a response to give.
There was nothing after that.
"Huh."
Mordret walked past Sunless into his own "room". His expression and demeanor not indicating anything.
"I'll see you in a few hours, Sunless."
His new companion said nothing in return, only offering him a cursory glance.
Mordret shook his head. None of that mattered anyway. What really mattered was what Sunless let slip.
Mordret had downright said that Sunless was planning to overthrow the Sovereigns, and instead of calling him crazy or disagreeing…the guy didn't deny it at all.
Ah, I think I get why Gehrman wanted us to work together. It seems we have more in common than I initially thought.